Letter to the Editor: Faculty adviser of InterVarsity responds to Lela’s letter

As the faculty adviser to Knox IVCF for 31 years, I am responding to the recent Letter to the Editor by Wayne Lela. Lela of “HOME,” a designated “hate group,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, wrote a letter to the TKS which attempted to frame InterVarsity’s disagreement with Common Ground as one primarily defined by political position. We believe that Lela’s rhetoric is highly partisan, divisive and does not further conversations on identities and beliefs. We of IVCF reject his analysis. Our beliefs are shaped by our faith tradition, not by our political convictions. We find—in both the left and the right—values and commitments which we can affirm and values and commitments which we must reject. IVCF does not identify as a Republican or Democratic group. We identify as Christians.

IVCF is blessed to be at Knox, a college thatÊprofesses the principle of non-discrimination based on identity or religious creed. Clubs with different political, religious or philosophical belief systems are all supported by Knox in order to sustain an open public forum where people can act based on different religious, cultural or philosophical principles.